the annoying alarm clock. so how much are you saving? what are your favorite tricks and how are you doing it? find us on facebook or twitter. "cnn saturday morning" with randi kaye continues right now. from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, this is "cnn saturday morning." battling over benghazi, lawmakers are furious. the president is standing his ground. and there is still no one in custody. all morning, we're putting the conflict and the players in focus. on the brink of war as fighting escalates between israel and hamas, experts say there will likely be a lot more bloodshed before the violence stops. and it's the gaffe that has some republicans shaking their heads. why mitt romney says obama won because of the gifts he gave.

good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. it is 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. on the west. we start in gaza this hour, as people there have to fear death from above. israeli war planes have been relentless in their attacks on targets in gaza. they are hunting rocket launchers, but dozens of civilians have been killed as a result. the latest round of this conflict started wednesday, and there is no end in sight. sarah sidener is in gaza city for us. what are you seeing at this hour? are you hearing or seeing any air strikes? >> reporter: we're hearing drones above, but just five minutes before we started this show, we saw rockets coming out of central gaza, literally a few hundred yards away from us. we could see the rockets going up into the air, and they were sort of white, and then they would disappear and they were pointed, of course, towards

israel. usually when that happens, you see that happening and then you hear the sound of planes above shortly after. and then usually that area is pounded in air strikes. we have been hearing air strikes all day long, that has not stopped. there has been a lull maybe for the past 30 or so minutes. but it has just been relentless here over the past cup of days. we know that the hospitals have been overwhelmed with people. we're hearing from hospital officials that the death toll has gone to 40-plus people so far. i think we're at 42 now, and we're talking about more than 250 people injured. >> and as we've been talking, we've been watching some of these live explosions here taking place now just after 5:00 p.m. in gaza. talk to me a little bit about the mood there. are people taking cover? >> reporter: yes. there's almost no one in the streets. there are a few places that are open. one of the grocery stores, we went there today to pick up

supplies for ourselves, and as we opened the store, you could see there were a few people milling about, a few people trying to get supplies. but generally speaking, in the most densely populated city in the world, there's almost no one outside on the streets. what i can tell you is that we are seeing and hearing the sounds and the rest of the civilians are seeing and hearing the sounds of these air strikes. it's scary. they don't want to be out. they know better than to be out. they're trying to hunker down. and all of the businesses are generally closed. >> sara sidner, thank you very much and do stay safe. some of our reporters there that you will only see that access on cnn. let's go to the israeli side of the border. israeli tanks and troops have been taking up positions. we're joined now live from the border there. fred what are you seeing in terms of military activity?

all right, we lost fred there on the border, on the israeli side. we will try and get back to him. in the meantime, nick valencia is live at our middle east news desk monitoring all the news that's coming in about gaza and israel and what's happening there. nick, good morning. fill us in on what's happening. >> good morning, randi. this is the hub for our international news gathering division. we're next to a very special desk that we created today to monitor all the feeds and signals that are coming in out of gaza and israel. these are two middle east experts. i want to bring in ali. you've been monitoring several feeds going on. tell us a little bit about what you're doing at the desk. >> as this conflict is unfolding at an exponential rate, we are monitoring the arab channels as well as the israeli channels in the arabic language live. at the desk, we try to digest all this flood of information to bring to the audience in the u.s., to put them in perspective

of what's going on here. >> and you see it is a very fluid situation. we're dealing with correspondents in the field. this is exactly where everything is funneled to. the arab league is convening in cairo to discuss the situation in gaza. this desk will be live all throughout the morning and afternoon to bring you the latest information, so when we have breaking news, we'll toss it back up to you. >> we appreciate that, nick. thank you. and let's take you back to the israeli side of the border. israeli tanks and troops certainly taking up positions there, trying to get us back to fred. what are you seeing there in terms of military activity? >> reporter: hi, randi. there's a lot of military activity on this side of the border. on the one hand, you have the air strikes that the israeli air force is conducting there over gaza. sara was talking about it just a little bit. as she was talking, there was actually a bomb being dropped on gaza that we could see here from our position. i'd say we're about four, maybe five kilometers away from the

gaza border, but we do see it right behind us. we also saw those rockets that sara was talking about that were being fired out of gaza. those were actually fired in the direction of where we are right now. some of those appear to have been intercepted by a intercepter system that the israelis have called the iron dome. the other thing that's going on is that there is a massive military buildup going on by the israeli military on this side of the border. we're seeing a lot of trucks passing by on the road here with tanks on them with armored personnel carriers on them. also with armored bulldozers as well. it's something that we've seen throughout the entire day really, and keep in mind that the israelis have now said that they're calling up tens of thousands of reserves as well, as they say the ground defensive going into gaza with ground troops is something that is a very real possibility, randy. >> things have escalated rapidly in the past few days. but would you say -- are we hitting sort of a stalemate right now of air strikes versus

rockets? >> well, the air strikes are ongoing. i'm not sure whether or not i call it a stale masmt bmate. the israelis are probably stepping up their air strikes swhasm however, they've not been able to suppress the fire coming out of gaza. there was an alarm in tel aviv, the largest city here in israel. apparently that rocket was intercepted also by an iron dome system. however, it shows that those who are firing rockets in gaza are still very much capable of reaching towns like tel aviv. yesterday, a rocket fell close to jerusalem. so in that sense, yes. at this point in time, it does not appear either side is gaining the upper hand, at least from taking the objectives that they want to reach. on the one hand, you have the israelis who want to suppress the fire coming out of gaza, and what hamas and others want to do is keep firing into gaza. one of the things that can

really change the game would be a ground defensive launched by the israeli military. it's unclear whether or not that is imminent at this point. >> i know you'll be watching that for us. do keep us posted on any activity that you see. thank you. the politics behind benghazi. closed door hearings this week haven't ended the partisan bickering. plus, mitt romney explains his loss. but his reasons aren't sitting so well with fellow republicans. maria cardona and amy holmes standing by, so get ready. big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ ma announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

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it is the battle of benghazi. it is also our focus this morning. congress has spent the week trying to get to the bottom of the benghazi attack on september 11th. four americans were killed including ambassador christopher stevens. now it seems to have boiled down to a war of words between republicans and democrats. joining me now as they do every week are maria cardona and amy

holmes. good morning to both of you. >> good morning, randi. >> maria, is the actual search for answers being turned into more of a search, do you think, for a scapegoat? >> it sounds like that, randi. and it's really unfortunate, because what was one of the mandates that came out of this election from the american people is for their leaders to work together to find solutions. i think that from the very beginning, both democrats and republicans have said that the whole benghazi incident needs to be something that we work together to find out what happened. unfortunately, a lot of republicans are politicizing it, trying to politicize it before the election i think for political gain, and are continuing to do so. and what we're finding out now is that the intelligence that was handed to the white house by the intelligence community was exactly the one that was used in the days after the benghazi attack to tell the american people what had happened and what was known up to that point, and so i don't think that it's a

good move for the republicans to continue to try to politicize that. let's find out what happened. that's what needs to be done. >> there was some question about the wording, using the word "extremist." if they really thought it was a terrorist, why wasn't there an interagency decision to not use al qaeda in the unclassified talking points that susan rice was using on the morning shows. but amy, do you believe at all that the election results are playing a part in this washington drama? >> i don't think so. i think benghazi is such a serious scandal and debacle in terms of american foreign policy that everyone wants to get to the answer, including senator dianne feinstein, the democrat from california. as far as those talking points go, it is not at all clear where they were edited. what we do know apparently is that the original determination that al qaeda was involved, or

al qaeda affiliated groups was sent out the front door to the cia and went through some sort of editing process, perhaps interagency, perhaps at the white house that still hasn't been answered. what we do know is if the white house wanted to provide the answers, they could have done it before the election and chose not to. let's not forget, of course, general petraeus and his whole personal scandal, debacle, that could also be professional. we still don't know the answers to that. the administration knew of the petraeus investigation. the president claims that he didn't before the election, now we're only learning of it after. >> let's talk a little bit more about susan rice and that whole situation with the talking points, because she is the ambassador to the u.n. she has been mentioned as a possible replacement for hillary clinton as secretary of state. republican senators john mccain, lindsey graham, they have already said no way, they will hold up her confirmation because of benghazi and comments made days afterwards explaining the

attacks. at the time, she said it could have been because of this anti-muslim movie, as we said, but now that's sort of been disproved. i guess the question is -- well, first, listen to. this then i want to ask you -- listen to some of the sound that we have from obama and mccain this week. >> if senator mccain and senator graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. and i'm happy to have that discussion with them. but for them to go after the u.n. ambassador who had nothing to do with benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous. >> that statement is really remarkable in that if the president thinks that we are

picking on people, he really does not have any idea of how serious this issue is. >> so maria, to you on this, is this a fair attack, do you think, on ambassador rice? she did use the talking points that were given to her after this interagency decision. >> no, absolutely it's not fair, randy. and the president was spot-on in his defense of her. let's remember that these were talking points that were given to her by the intelligence community, and i do agree with amy that we need to figure out what happened in terms of the words that were used. i don't agree that it had anything to do with the white house. i think it had to do with classified versus unclassified use of the term al qaeda. republicans need to tread a very careful line, because let's remember their full embrace and defense of another rice,

condoleezza rice, when she was clearly using faulty intelligence to take us into war that killed thousands of troops, so that is something that they need to be careful about. they're heading into a place where they're going to be seen as being incredibly hypocritical and very political. that's not what the american people are looking for from their leaders right now. >> amy, our dana bash did some great reporting. she got it confirmed by a senior u.s. official telling cnn that it was an interagency decision to take the word "al qaeda" out of the original unclassified talking points. so who do you think is going to win this round? will it be mccain or obama? >> well, there's no reason why the president of the united states and the commander in chief would not be told that it was al qaeda, and he is privy to all classified information. i can person-- as far as susan s concerned, she's a cabinet member, she went on the sunday shows and repeated over and over and over what we knew at the

time could not possibly be the full story, and i was on this show with you two ladies before she went on those sunday shows and i said if you think this is about a youtube video, then get in line for a female procedure, which i will not again repeat. it was clear to reporting, to anyone who picked up the newspaper who read -- even read foreign papers that what susan rice was pedaling on those sunday shows was not the full story. even though she insisted over and over and over again that this was a spontaneous mob action, which as we have now learned, did not even take place. she has to be held accountable, as well as the people who -- president obama himself who said they put her out there to carry this water. why? >> all right. we're going to leave it there on this discussion. but i want you both to stick around because i want to ask you about mitt romney's post-election assessment and why he says the president was re-elected. his reasoning next, so sit tight. e of business people like you,

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welcome back, everyone. i'm randi kaye. we're talking politics now and a frank assessment from mitt romney on his election loss. he said president obama won because he gave "gifts to african-americans, hispanics and young voters." what gifts? in particular, health care. romney said "with hwith hispani voters, free health care was a big plus. plus, with regards to young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift. free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. there was instant backlash from

republicans. >> this is not where the republican party needs to go. look, we want -- if you want voters to like you, the first thing you've got to do is to like them first. and it's certainly not helpful to tell voters that you think their votes were bought. that's not a way to show them that you respect them, you like them. we need to stop talking down to voters. >> maria cardona and amy holmes are back with me now. amy, you heard that there. sour grapes or does mitt romney have a point? >> well, you know, the president did campaign on those issues, but whether or not he won because of them is a separate question. and republicans are supposed to be the party of personal responsibility. so i can understand why governor jindal was none too pleased with mitt romney's assessment. >> and maria, what about you? mitt romney, he got in trouble after the tape that was leaked of him talking to the donors last spring about the 47% who were in the bag for obama. he apologized for saying that,

but then you have something like this. what do you think? >> exactly. and this is exactly why he lost, randi. these comments are absolutely pathetic. and they demonstrate mitt romney's lack of an understanding of who we are as a country, of the demographics of this country, of the contributions that all of these demographics make to this country, and frankly, of his disdain for probably 47% or more of the country. and so i'm glad that republicans are standing up to him, because i think republicans understand that they are standing on the cliff of political oblivion. if they don't do what's necessary to reach out to the demographics that look like america today and whether that is latinos, whether that's african-americans, they need to be talking about policies that help them economically, whether that's women. since amy likes to talk about female procedures, republicans were talking about invasive female procedures across the country in order to get an abortion. that is not the way to win

elections. republicans understand that. and i think they just want mitt romney to go away. >> if you look at the names out there blasting him, you have bobby jindal, wisconsin governor scott walker, new jersey governor chris christie, all bashing romney for his comments. but all of them have also been mentioned as possible 2016 presidential candidates. so is this a way to get out there in front of this now? >> well, and also susanna martinez, the latina governor of new mexico. i don't think it is entirely political, but you named the stars of the gop at the moment, certainly they're some of the most quotable and well-known. i would say the grumbling over those remarks also filters down through gop ranks. the house members, senators who are saying this doesn't make the republican task any easier when mitt romney seems to be casting aspersions on these voting blocks. but i don't think we're going to be hearing from mitt romney much more. >> i don't know, we'll see. amy holmes, maria cardona.

thank you both very much. >> thank you, randi. >> jill kelley, you know that name by now, she is certainly known to most americans as the tampa socialite with an affinity for military brass. but what exactly is the appeal of all those shiny stars on the uniform? a psychologist explains how the attraction is both real and strong. the company's bottom lin, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ] so, which superfast 4g lte service would you choose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does tt make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm randi kaye. here are five stories that we're watching this morning. one of them includes what's happening in the middle east. nick valencia is live at our middle east news desk with some new information coming in. nick, what do you know? >> good morning, randi. we've been monitoring this situation closely out of gaza and israel. will th is the hub of our international news division. we have two editors who are experts in the middle east.

i wonder if you could bring in yusef. we're hearing that a rocket was fired into israel. >> the military wing for hamas claimed responsibility for that. they are claiming responsibility on their tv station that we are monitoring always. they claimed responsibility for the rocket that attacked on tel aviv. >> so not only are we monitoring social media, we're also monitoring these signals what. are these live signals here? what are you watching? >> i have the hamas tv, which is a tv station based in gaza and funded by hamas. we monitor them for videos and for information, telling their side of story. we also have live signal from our camera, of course, any information that comes from one side of the story, we have to verify it with our team on the ground. >> these signals are actually where our correspondents are coming up. this is a very realtime fluid situation.

we're getting breaking news as it develops. we heard just a short time ago that the arab league is convening in cairo to discuss the ongoing situation in gaza. the head of hamas, we do know is meeting with the prime minister of turkey. once news develops out of that, we'll come back to you with the latest. >> thank you, nick, we'll check back with you. as we've been reporting all morning, former cia director david petraeus briefed lawmakers on friday about the attack in benghazi, libya, holding the sensitive hearings behind closed doors was not unusual. but getting petraeus in and out of the capitol without anyone seeing him, that was extraordinary. dana bash is on capitol hill. >> reporter: lawmakers say david petraeus testified he now believes what happened to the u.s. consulate in libya earlier this year was, in fact, a terrorist attack and he may not be the director of the cia anymore, but he proved that he still knows how to operate under the radar.

cameras up and ready before dawn hoping to catch a glimpse of david petraeus coming to brief lawmakers about the deadly attack in benghazi one week after resigning in disgrace. petraeus came, but no one saw him. >> he went behind those doors, which is where he is right now, without anybody seeing him. in fact, the committee for some reason decided to protect him and they really had to go to great lengths to effectively sneak him in. >> reporter: lawmakers say they protected petraeus because he agreed to come voluntarily with the hope of clearing up confusion about intelligence and the days after september's deadly attack. petraeus concluded it was an act of terror. >> they now clearly believe it did not arise out of a demonstration. it was not spontaneous. and it was clear terrorist involvement. >> he said that straight out? >> yes. >> reporter: meanwhile the most politically charged controversy is over u.n. ambassador susan rice's comments five days after the attack. why she pointed to benghazi demonstrations, which officials

now say didn't even happen, and why rice did not talk about terrorist forces, which intelligence officials now believe actually targeted the u.s. consulate there. cnn is told petraeus told lawmakers rice was using these unclassified cia talking points, which omitted mention of terrorist elements because it was still classified and could have compromised intelligence sources. >> she used the unclassified talking points that were signed off on by the entire intelligence community. so criticisms of her are completely unwarranted. >> reporter: republicans like peter king still suggested those talking points were changed. >> the original talking points prepared by the cia were different from the ones that were finally put out. >> reporter: in fact, cnn has learned king is right. an original draft did suggest the attack had links to al qaeda, but a senior u.s. official tells cnn it was an interagency decision to change that to "extremists" in order to

protect classified sources. democrats accuse republicans of unnecessarily assassinating rice's character. >> you don't pillory a person, and to select ambassador rice because she used an unclassified talking point to say that she is unqualified to be secretary of state, i think is a mistake. >> reporter: as for david petraeus, after about five hours of trying to find him, tv crews, including cnn's, caught up with what appeared to be petraeus's car leaving the capitol. as for that testimony, we are told that he briefly touched on the elephant in the room, and that, of course, is the affair that led to his resignation as cia director. we're told that he made clear that that had nothing to do with the attack in benghazi. we're also told by a law maker the scene was awkward. >> dana bash, thank you. take an ordinary guy and puttput

on a military uniform, in a flash he goes from average to quite special. that mystique holds an allure to military groupies, especially when the uniform is decorated with stars. >> was it a sense of belonging to a tight knit community, access to one of the most renowned bases in the world, or was it simply the uniform that sent jill kelley spiraling toward anyone with stars on his shoulder? >> it's a small select group who gets to wear that uniform, and if you put all the medals, these are little shiny objects where people are attracted. >> psychologist janice lawrence says the attraction is real for so called military groupies. a uniform, even a salute can be se seductive. remember "an officer and a gentleman"? if that's why jill kelley aligned herself with two generals, she says she was likely hoping soe ining some fa

glory would rub off. u.s. central command named jill kelley an honorary ambassador and her presence got her the title south korean honorary consul for the city of tampa. but listen to this 911 call she made to complain about reporters on her property. you get a sense of the inflated importance. >> you know, i don't know if by any chance -- because i'm an honorary consul general, so i have involunteerability, so they should not be able to cross my property. i don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection as well. >> kelley's social life revolved around mcdill. she had full access to the base. as recently as friday, she was throwing a party at her home, and among the guests, vice admiral robert harwood, deputy commander of u.s. central command. >> it's a military town, and to know the military is like somebody in perhaps los angeles

knowing somebody who, you know, knows a star. so in that town, rubbing elbows with generals is pretty impressive. >> kelley stayed close to both general david petraeus and general john allen through her growing social network. she threw lavish parties at her tampa mansion. champagne, cigars and gourmet buffets. she worked it. the tampa bay times reported in february 2010 that petraeus and his wife arrived for a pirate-themed party at kelley's home, escorted by 28 police officers on motorcycles. there, waiters served lamb chops and crabcakes. last year, general petraeus returned the favor. he and his wife hosted the kelleys and jill kelley's twin sister for christmas dinner. >> she's looking for power. she's looking for glory. she's looking for money. she's looking for something to complete herself to make her more than she is, or something

that she is not. >> but powerful connections haven't kept the kelleys out of trouble. their bank has filed to foreclose on the kelleys' home, saying couple hasn't played the mortgage since september 2009. records obtained by cnn show the kelleys owe the bank at least $250,000. and florida records show at least nine other lawsuits involving money are pending against the kelleys, including $320,000 in unpaid credit card bills. not even a four-star general can fix that. and this little tidbit. we've also learned that jill kelley visited the white house three times since september 28th, including two meals in the cafeteria with a white house staffer. in idaho, some fourth graders had their faces zribl scribbled on after failing to achieve reading goals. the teacher is saying she's teaching them how to bully.

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welcome back. we send our kids to school for

education, not how to bully. teachers are trusted to take care of our most valuable possessions, our children. that's why parents in declo, idaho, are furious. an elementary school allowed students that met their reading goal to write on the faces in paint of the ones who did not. >> those who met their goal would be able to paint the face of those kids who didn't meet their goal. or those children who didn't meet their goal could also miss a recess. >> not only was my son punished with bullying, but the other students were rewarded with bullying. they are being taught that bullying is okay, and there's nothing wrong with this. >> however, some parents see nothing at all wrong with the lesson and even support the teacher's tactics. >> i'm just one of many parents who stands totally behind summer larson, and her teaching methods and what she does. we think she's a wonderful teacher and we want to see her

stay at declo for many years. >> that teacher was placed on disciplinary leave while authorities investigate the case. but she was back in the classroom last week. if you'd like to sound off on stories about bullying, feel free to tweet me now or any time. i'd love to hear from you. israeli war planes have been relentless in their attacks on targets in gaza all morning. the latest from our cnn middle east news desk coming up. but first, if you're an avid skier or trying it for the first time, now is the time to get the best deals for snow season vacations. holly has this week's "on the go." >> reporter: psychiatry season is here. >> if you're looking to get a bargain on that ski vacation, look at very early in the season or toward the tail end of ski season. the more expensive months will

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let's update our top story in the middle east. there have been more explosions and thick smoke in gaza while air raid sirens have been ring out in tel aviv, israel. hamas's military wing claims responsibility for firing a rocket at tel aviv today. israeli police say it was intercepted in midair. israel's deputy foreign minister tells cnn that palestinian militants in gaza have 24 hours to stop rocket attacks on israel. in gaza, people are fearing for their lives as we speak. israeli war planes have been relentless in their attacks on targets. they are hunting rocket

launchers. but dozens of civilians have been killed as a result. these are some live pictures of gaza and gaza city. the latest round of this conflict started wednesday, and there really is no end in sight at this point as we continue to watch the explosions in and around gaza city. nick valencia is live at our middle east news desk. he's watching everything unfold. nick, what's the latest? >> we've been seeing a lot of video of these air raids. we want to take you on to the ground. here's one of our middle eastern correspondents. this is a special desk we created today at the hub of our international news gathering situation. tell me about what you're monoerring. what's going on here? >> this is a hamas funded tv based in gaza, but they are carrying live pictures, where there's a huge rally conducted by the muslim brotherhood. we know hamas is a branch of the muslim brotherhood, and this

rally is to support hamas and to support the people of gaza, and this conflict. and the muslim brotherhood leadership is speaking now to their supporters, and of course, to the wider audience and specific tlally to the audience gaza. >> is this coming in live what we're seeing on that lower bottom screen? that looks like fresh video coming in from air raids. >> this is palestinian tv. it shows how the conflict is unfolding in gaza, how they injured palestinians being carried by balances out of the conflict zone. and just want to show that the influx of israeli missiles that have been hitting gaza and the impact on the populations. >> we've been seeing a lot of video of the palestinian territories in gaza. what are we hearing? >> both sides of the conflict

are projecting their side of the story. their arguments on gaza. for hamas, for example, we've launched, we hit tel aviv, we hit southern jerusalem. to counter that, the israeli media are saying we have intercepted all these incoming missiles on jerusalem and tel aviv. >> those rockets are claiming responsibility as the al-casam brigade. >> yes. the israelis are saying we intercepted that. two conflicting messages right here. >> so this is our international desk again, the hub for our international news gathering operation. we just got an update a short time ago. new video. we're trying to turn that around for you. we told you last hour a little while ago that a rocket was fired from gaza into tel aviv, intercepted by the israeli defense forces. we're trying to get that video

turned around for you. that's the latest from our international desk with our two middle east experts. >> and with all the possibility out there, a possible ground invasion by israel into gaza. those guys will be very busy on that desk. nick valencia, thank you very much. on a much lighter note, twinkies have been in movies, television, commercials and politician. now they are disappearing and there's no telling when or if they'll be back. yep. yep. ok. sure. why not? woah. touchscreens. put that in your dash. now, luxury stuff. make your seats like that. that thing has wifi, why doesn't your car? you can't do that. ignore that guy. give it wifi. yes! make it fit 5 people. no, 5 actual sized people. give them leg room, good. destroy boring car interiors forever. and that's how you do it. easy. ♪

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funny guy stephen kcolbert received a presidential honor, taking his place in wax form at

madame tussauds wax museum. more than 250 measurements were taken of "the colbert report" host to make sure the figure was as precise as possible. colbert even donated his own suit, shoes, and socks to dress the other guy. and in one texas, one family almost donated, well, a little more than they planned this week. forgetting they stuffed away something very valuable in a pair of shoes, they donated to a good will store. listen to this. >> upon looking at them, i discovered quite a large wad of 100 dollar bills. ended up being about $3,300. >> and in case you missed it, here's president obama with olympic gymnast micayla maroney in the oval office. he mimicked her famous not impressed facial expression, which became a hit online, jokingly, of course. on thursday, he met members of the team before letting to new york to tour damage from

superstorm sandy. you can see gold medalist gabby douglas in the red dress there. they also assigned -- signed leotards to give to the president's daughters. and people are stockpiling twinkies, cupcakes and wonder bread. twinkie sales are up 31,000% on amazon yesterday, but it's not just because of the sugar high. it also has a whole lot to do with nostalgia. >> reporter: following a nasty labor dispute and almost a year in bankruptcy, hostess brands is closing its 33 bakeries, more than 500 distribution centers and selling off its assets, putting the future of the 82-year-old twinkie in question. it's been a long road for the cream-filled pastry, know part of the american lexicon. >> it's twinkie the kid! >> wow! >> reporter: the twinkie was born in 1930 in illinois.

inventor james doer was trying to figure out how to come up with an orange cupcake filled with banana cream. but the company was forced to change to vanilla cream filling. over the years, the twinkie became a part of american popular culture in. the 1950s, the howdy doo the host gave it an endorsement. >> what do we have? hostess twin keys. in the 1980s, the "ghostbusters" movie deused it. in the 1990s, there was a presidential endorsement as president bill clinton included a twinkie in the millennium time capsule. we've seen it put to the test for shelf life. now the twinkie needs someone to come to its rescue or we'll have

to say goodbye to the twinkie for good. >> i once remember having a deep-fried twinkie at the minnesota state fair. that's a good memory. we have much more aned the next hour of "cnn saturday morning", which starts right now. good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. glad you're with us. on the brink of war, as fighting escalates between israel and hamas, experts say there will likely be a lot more bloodshed before the violence stops. we are only 45 days away until the fiscal cliff deadline. could a deal get done before it's too late? we'll take a look at the likelihood of that happening or not. and pets abandoned because of superstorm sandy. four-legged victims in need of help. i'll take you on a ride along with their new guardians. despite calls around the world for restraint, the

situation along the israeli-gaza board ser rder is deteriorating hour. both sides closer to all-out war. in all, 30,000 troops have been mobilized, 75,000 more on standby. palestinian militants are raising the stakes as well, firing rockets deep into israel. air rides sirens wailed for a third straight day in tel aviv, warning of an impending attack just a short time ago. that rocket was intercepted. as the situation escalates, so does the death toll. four days of back and forth attacks have left three people dead in israel. at least 40 are dead in gaza. nine of those killed just today. tunisia is showing its unconditional solidarity to the palestinians, sending a delegation into gaza today amid the constant bombardment. our senior international correspondent sara sidner is live in gaza city. what is happening there right

now? >> reporter: we can, again, hear the sound that has been here all day long, really. the sound of drones. we about an hour ago saw rockets from here in the middle of gaza city towards israel. we saw those rockets going, and that is what we expected, those loud booms, the air strikes. usually the rockets go out and eventually you'll hear the drones, and then you hear the planes overhead, and then the sound of booms and huge plumes of smoke coming up. this has been the scene here for three days now. last night was particularly difficult, we couldn't sleep because there was so much banging. there were so many things going off that it was very difficult to sort of get your thoughts together. we also went to neighborhoods where civilians say they too are being caught up in this. let me let you meet a family who lost a child. >> a scene no parent should ever have to endure, playing out in

front of our camera at the hospital. this 4-year-old lies dead in the arms of a neighbor. a child of gaza. another victim of an air strike. we went to the neighborhood where he lived and met his aunt. where were you when this happened? >> translator: i was in the house over here, when i heard the boorge i went running out. i went out screaming and hollering. it was a terrible scene, such a scary scene, she says. >> reporter: this is where little mahmoud's family lives, and to give you some idea of what this family went through and what he endured, all you have to do is look at the damage to the home. he was playing just downstairs when the bomb fell. while there were plenty of hamas flags flying in this neighborhood, five hours after the attack, we saw no evidence here of military activity, though it was impossible to look in every building. we did find mahmoud's father mourning his son. >> translator: he was very sweet. he was intelligent. i liked everything about

mahmoud, he said. as he speaks, another plane flies overhead delivering another strike. >> reporter: we're having to leave this area now because there are air strikes, we can hear the planes and we're also seeing rockets coming from a neighbor just on the other side. from inside gaza city, it was also possible to see the vapor trails of the rockets launched from inside gaza. at the hospital, mahmoud quickly became a symbol of the war in gaza, when the visiting prime minister of egypt and the hamas prime minister touched the dead child. >> translator: i was here and i saw the child who was martyred. >> translator: the blood is on both of our hands. ours and the egyptian hands. >> reporter: we watched more children being brought into the hospital. the doctors say several have died, including a child burned to death. >> as a doctor, and as a human, i can't do anything for him

because i know he has died now, you know? and you can't imagine if it's your baby, how do you feel? why? these raids, why? >> reporter: the influx of casualties, men, women, and children is overwhelming this hospital. underlying how this war is not just between soldiers. civilians on both sides of the border are enduring the grinding pain of loss. and what you're hearing behind me are the sounds of evening prayer beginning here in gaza city. throughout these prayers, oftentimes we're hearing again, the sounds of booms and we're seeing the lights of rockets headed toward israel. a lot of people are talk about whether or not war has been declared. to most of the people here, it really doesn't matter because they feel like war has already arrived. randi? >> it certainly has, a long time

ago. thank you, sara. demonstrators are taking to the streets in arab countries to protest israel's unrelenting bombardment. tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of cairo. egypt's relations with hamas have strengthened under the new administration. protesters in turkey set a photo of netanyahu on fire. fred joins us live from the border there. good morning. what are you seeing in terms of military activity at this point? >> reporter: there's a lot of military activity going on. basically what we're seeing is a huge military buildup on the israeli side of the border. we're seeing a lot of soldiers coming through the area. buses full of soldiers that are moving towards the border with

gaza. we've also seen israeli soldiers take up positions near there. there was one forward reconnaissance patrol that was hiding behind a treeline. they said to keep out of site, because they fear they could themselves become the targets for rockets as well. one of the big questions that is being asked here is whether or not this ground offensive is actually going to happen, and there israeli officials are telling us that so far no decision has been made yet. however, it is an option that they say is still very much on the table, and what they point to, of course, is the things that israeli civilians are having to go through as well. they say it's simply unacceptable for a group like hamas to possess and use rockets that can reach large population centers here in this country like tel aviv, like jerusalem as well. you said before, earlier today air raid sirens went off in tel aviv and a rocket was picked off there very close before it was going to impact close to that

city. >> so we've talked quite a bit about a possible ground invasion and what that would look like if israeli troops went into gaza. how likely is that, do you think? >> reporter: the big question is going to be whether or not they can achieve the objectives that they've set out for themselves with the aerial campaign that's going on right now. so far what the israeli military is telling us, they believe that the aerial campaign is a success. they say they've hit other strategic buildings for hamas as well. but the big question is are they going to be able to stop rockets from being fired out of gaza into israeli territory, and so far it seems the air campaign has not been able to do that. we've just said hundreds of rockets have come out of gaza so far. i think the israeli military is pugt it somewhere over 600. some of those have been intercepted by the iron dome. however, we see that the militants are still able to

target these big population centers and certainly as long as that is the case, the israeli military is not going to be able to say that this operation has been a success. as long as that drags on, it makes the likelihood that the ground offensive could happen bigger and bigger, randi. >> all right, fred, be safe on the border. thank you. president obama has spoken to israel's prime minister about the escalating crisis. benjamin netanyahu called the president to voice his deep appreciation for the u.s. investment in israel's iron dome defense system, which has intercepted a slew of rockets fired from gaza. president obama reiterated u.s. support for israel's right to defend itself and discussed options for diffusing this situation. in egypt, 47 children are dead after a bus crashed into a train. the minister of transport and the head of the local railroad agency have resigned because of this. 60 students were onboard when

the accident happened. officials are investigating. back in the u.s., victims of the aurora movie theater shooting will soon get monetary compensation. doe norse sent in $5 million. they have handled similar disbursements. the fund was established by colorado's governor and a local charity. setting the scene in israel. the battle is heating up there between israel and hamas. we've been showing you that all morning. and we will take a closer look at the fire power at play. surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice.

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up during the president's trip to myanmar. our tom foreman takes a closer look at the fire power in place. >> reporter: let's look at thousand battlefield is shaping up in the middle east. it's about the size of new jersey, 7.5 million people, 75% jewish. the economy is good. unemployment below 7%. gaza by comparison, geographically very small. only about twice as big as washington, d.c. predominantly palestinian. unemployment is very high. globalfirepower.com has called israel the tenth most powerful military in the world, so let's break that down and see why. they have compulsory military service. that means every young person must go into the military for a while. 176,000 active troops are available. and they have about a half million that they can call from reserves very quickism ground forces impressive. some 3,000 tanks. if you count all the artillery

pieces, you get up to about 12,000 units that can operate on the ground. their air force is formidable. some 200 helicopters. their forces are much smaller in terms of their official forces, certainly. if you look at the people in uniform, soldiers, police, whatever you want to call it. about 12,500. they have nothing like the weapons that the israelis have. however, palestinian militants do have lots and lots of rockets, and i want to bring in a model of one of them here. these rockets are popular because they're cheap, easy to make out of steel tubes. they only weigh 70 to 100 pounds. they're fueled essentially by commercial grade fertilizer and they can pack quite a punch. they're not very accurate but you fire enough of them, they don't have to be accurate. if you go beyond this to some of their more robust and better

targeted rockets and missiles, then you also start talking about range. in this conflict so far, we have reports of weapons fired from gaza traveling as much as 50 miles to hit jerusalem and tel aviv. israeli officials believe as much as a fifth of the population of israel is subject to these rocket attacks. that's something they say they simply will not tolerate anymore and that's why we keep hearing all this talk and speculation about a possible ground invasion of gaza. >> thank you, tom. we've been bringing you details about the escalating conflict between the israelis and palestinians in gaza. as israel mobilizes its troops to the border, there are global fears of that ground war. earlier, i asked what triggered the conflict. >> today there is no jewish occupation in gaza, and we see hundreds of missiles flying from gaza into israel, into civilian populations and we ask why?

you cannot blame any incident on that. and unfortunately, we hear the leader of hamas saying it very clearly. the same leadership that condemned the u.s. for assassinating osama bin laden. four million people now under the threat of missiles. we are very determined to take care of this problem and we will do whatever is necessary to get rid of the hamas regime and to bring stability to the region. >> so you do believe that it was hamas who started this then? >> it's a fact. i can count hundreds and almost thousands of missiles that hamas shot at us, and it's on a daily basis. if it were to happen in the u.s. and you had missiles flying to new york city and washington, d.c., i'm sure the u.s. would have acted long before we

waited, maybe too long, but now we are determined, we are calling for the troops to get ready and we will tell to hamas leadership and to the people in egypt today, we cannot wait anymore. >> let me ask you about the troops, because as you mentioned, there is the possibility of this ground campaign. israel has approved the call-up of 75,000 reservists. do you see israeli troops going into gaza? and under what circumstances? what would make that happen? >> the prime minister said it very quickly. the goal of this operation is to bring pease and quiet to the region, to the southern part of israel. if the air strikes would not be efficient, even if hamas would not understand that we are talking business, we would not allow missiles to fly over israel on a daily basis. we do not want to do it, but on the other hand, we cannot wait until we see more missiles coming. >> once again, that was danny

da danon. i also spoke with a member of the palestinian legislative council and asked him about the conflict. >> well, first of all, let's put things in order, because this new round of violence is not hamas. in reality, there was a cease fire during the last two and a half years. the side that violated this was israel. each time israel conducts air strikes on gaza, hamas responds with rocket attacks. and then israel claims it is the victim in this conflict. of course, we don't want any innocent person to be hurt in this conflict, whether palestinian or israeli. but in this case, it's not right or just to say that israelis have the right to defend themselves, but palestinians don't have the right to defend themselves. >> let me say first of all we're certainly not saying that palestinians don't have the right to defend themselves, but for its part, israel says it only began attacks in gaza after

enduring months of rocket attacks on southern israel by the military. first of all, do you believe that's the case, and if so, can you fault a government for fighting to protect its people? >> i don't agree with this israeli statement. i think it was israel that started the air strikes, and there were more. 300 air strikes on gaza. the question is how to stop that. it seems to me that this israeli government, the prime minister of israel, is using palestinian and israeli blood for his election campaign. that is unjust, unfair, and unacceptable. >> that was the member of the palestinian legislative council. and as always, our international desk is keepings up to date on all the developments out of israel and gaza. we'll get the latest news on the violence from there. if you're leaving the house right now, you can continue watching cnn from your mobile phone. you can also watch "cnn live" from your laptop. just go to cnn.com/tv.

welcome back. israel is intensifying its campaign against hamas targets in gaza. today it hammered the headquarters of the hamas-run government, and it has massed troops and tanks near the gaza border for a possible ground invasion. nick valencia is in the newsroom now getting updates from the international desk. nick, what is the latest? >> we have new video and new casualty numbers to share with you, randy. i want to bring you back here. this is a special desk that we created today to monitor all the live feeds, incoming routers. these are two of our experts in the middle east. i want to bring in yousef. you were showing me some new

video that the ibf posted on their youtube page. >> we're looking at here a video from aerial strikes on hamas, according to ibf, located under a building of hamas or some brigades, and you can see the video that they posted. you can see the bombs going in there. they claimed that this was the house of one of the commanders of the hamas brigade and they targeted -- used to be a torch for ammunition. >> we've also been in touch with the ministry for interior. they have fresh casualty figures. what do we know? >> so far they think the death toll, 40 people have been kill sod far and 385 wounded since the conflict started. >> conflicted started midweek, wednesday is when we started hearing about this conflict in

gaza. it's not just affecting gaza. this is affecting residents living in israel. we've got new information coming out of there as far as casualties as well. earlier today, five civilians and four members of the ibf were injured from rockets launched from gaza into israel. more than 400 rockets, randy, since wednesday have been launched into israel territory. i believe we have video of that. what are we hearing from the israeli side? any other updates? any new video that we've seen from israel? >> we've seen the video of the rocket that hamas has fired. hamas claimed responsibility for firing rockets at tel aviv. of course they say they intercepted the rockets and the interception was successful. >> that's with their iron drone rocket intercepting device that they have? part of their defense system. so we've got more information coming to you. we'll bring you the latest as it develops. but this is the late frst from

international desk. >> lesson learned from superstorm sandy. millions lost power during the storm. we take a look at how this can be prevented in the future. ke.

we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. right now, president obama is on his way to thailand. tomorrow, he is scheduled to meet with thailand's king, prime minister, and the u.s. embassy staff in bangkok. then he's on to myanmar, a country no u.s. president has ever visited before. then he will led to cambodia for the east asia summit. closer to home now, nearly three weeks after hurricane sandy hit, most of the power has been restored to the east coast,

but many are still asking why did so many people lose electricity and what might be done to prevent that from happening again? tom foreman takes up that subject in this week's "building up america." >> what do we want? when do we want it? >> reporter: for all the angry people still without power after sandy, there may be few more frustrated than a man who lives hundreds of miles away. he's with the american society of civil engineers. his name is auto lynch and he is certain the storm's impact did not have to be so bad. >> the damage did not have to be this bad at all. with a little bit better planning, we could have eliminated much of the damage. >> reporter: what he is talking about is the subject of some highly advanced research at georgia tech, a lowly but critical part of the electoral grid, the power pole. >> it's focused on getting a better understanding of the vulnerability of these poles as they're exposed to extremely wind loads. >> reporter: researchers are studying what makes the power

pole break. its age, the stress from wind, water, ice, or flying debris. combine all that with weather patterns and they are creating a comprehensive map of tens of millions of poles so utility companies can replace vulnerable ones before big storms hit. >> it's important to identify which ones are the most compromised and how to direct those funds without wasting huge sums and unnecessary treatment and unnecessary replacement. >> reporter: others belief the national code should also be rewritten to acquire more robust poles, especially where powerful storms are likely. lynch insists that could cost less than $100 per pole and should have been in place years before sandy came calling. he estimates power losses might have been half as bad. >> even if it's just 25%, that's 25% less people that didn't lose power. >> reporter: and in a tough

economy, building up america begins with keeping the lights on. tom foreman, cnn, washington. pets abandoned because of superstorm sandy. their owners and their homes may be gone, but the animals are still there. i'll take you along on a mission to save those missing pets. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. a regular guy with an irregular heartbeat.

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welcome back. i spent part of this past week in new york on staten island, and i walked through broken homes and the shattered lives that superstorm sandy left behind. but people we know are resilient. they will rebill or move elsewhere. but there are some victims who can't speak for themselves or care for themselves. as we found, though, they're not alone anymore. wra. >> we're going to have cat food. >> reporter: robert is on the move. on this day, he and his team from guardians of rescue are in staten island trying to find, feed, and save pets lost or

abandoned during superstorm sandy. >> we're going to leave you kitty litter. we're going to leave you dog food and cat food. >> robert's team has rescued 100 cats so far. he says residents underestimated the amount of water the storm would bring, so pets either drowned or ran far from home to escape the rushing water. of those found -- >> many are suffering from stress. many had blood in the urine. some had internal injuries. some of them had exterior wounds well. found several cats with sea water in their lungs. >> it's a big job, which is why robert called on his friend hush, a hip-hop artist from detroit. hush is a rapper, but he's also an animal lover who has helped animal rescue efforts in his hometown. hush's contacts in detroit donated nearly 8,000 pounds of dog and cat food. then he drove 12 hours through night to new york to help

robert's group. what worries you most about the pets that are probably out there? >> being displaced and just being out of their element. they're probably freaking out. >> hush and the volunteers went door to door looking for pets that may have been left behind. >> we got plenty of food. >> and dropping off food and supplies. >> thank you very much. >> along the way, they picked up whatever pets they could find. >> we're going to put him in his carrier. it's all right, baby, it's okay. >> this house is typical of this midland beach area of staten island. you can see the big red sticker that says unsafe area. so clearly somebody came by to check the home. they found it to be unsafe. but whoever that was probably wasn't looking for cats or dogs. they were looking for humans, and to check on the condition of the home. but when we pulled up, we did find a group of four cats eating from this cat food here, so obviously somebody left this behind for the cats.

the question is how long will they be able to survive on this food and will somebody be able to save them before this food runs out? robert marks the house so they know to come back for cats. if they find them, they'll try to catch them. otherwise, they'll set humane traps to save them. >> they can't talk. they can't say hey, you know, my owner left me behind. or hey, i'm stuck. i have nowhere to go. i need food. >> like this cat, who was hungry and alone. we were finally able to coax her out of an abandoned house. >> she's starving. she's eating so fast. eventually she was put in a cage. she'll be held in foster care until the owner can move home again, or she'll be put up for adoption. after a terrible storm that took so much from so many, a reason to be thankful. and i really want to point out, not only the great work that

these groups are doing, but that none of these animals are going to be ueuthanized, they are in foster care or will be adopted. if you want to help out the groups who are working so hard to save these guys, you can check out these two websites, guardiansofrescue.org. that is the new york-new jersey based group. and hush's group, detroitdogrescue.com. there is a lot of talk going on on capitol hill about the fiscal cliff. we'll tell you if all the chatter is helping the u.s. get any closer to a resolution. [ female announcer ] imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again. can your moisturizer do that? [ female announcer ] dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula, now proven to build a moisture reserve, so skin can replenish itself. that's healthy skin for life. only from aveeno.

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we are only 45 days away from the so called fiscal cliff deadline. $7 trillion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts could be triggered if congress doesn't reach a deal. i spoke earlier with trish regan and asked her what the fallout would be if a deal isn't reached in time. >> it changes from minute to

minute. investors will feel optimistic and suddenly the market was a little higher and suddenly they get very pessimistic. you can see how the market reacted just yesterday when you saw nancy pelosi out there. you saw john boehner out there saying we are hopeful we can get a deal done. and the market had a positive reaction to that. yet it lost that upside throughout the day, teetered back and forth between positive and negative territory. finally, closing the day out positive, so perhaps that suggests that maybe we are a little bit closer. but here's the thing, randi, they've got to get something done. they've got to solve this issue. because if not, the consequences are severe. >> but you listen to some people, and they suggest that fears of fallen off the cliff are overblown. what are the real consequences here? >> the real consequences are another recession. i mean, i can tell you every ceo that i'm talking to right now says i'm not making major decisions. i'm waiting.

i'm standing by the sidelines. i can't hire a lot of people, i can't invest in a lot of infrastructure because i don't know what the landscape is going to be in the next 45 days. i don't know what the landscape is going to be in the next three months. so there's a lot of holdup. now, eventually, once they solve all this, hopefully we see some pent up demand and that helps spur the economy forward. but in the meantime, the damage that is being done to the economy by these companies not hiring, by these companies not investing in new projects can be quite severe. >> yeah, everything is on hold, it seems. but what about the republican strategy? i mean, does that strategy of avoiding increased taxes on the wealthy while closing tax loopholes and deductions help economic growth, as the republicans are claiming? >> well, that's a big economic debate that we love to have, of course. a lot of questions as to whether or not higher taxes on the wealthy would in fact result in

economic growth. i think on the fiscal conservative side, the argument would be well these are the people that are paying the most percentage-wise in taxes, and these are also the people that are -- i shouldn't say percentage-wise, but rather the most dollar-wise that are paying the most in taxes and these are the people that are doing the most spending, and if you want to keep all that spending going, you would keep them in a lower tax bracket. the flip side is the people that are really feeling the pain are the people that are struggling and living paycheck to paycheck. they're paying effectively a larger portion of the burdens. >> 45 days and counting. we'll keep you posted on what congress is doing to fix this before time runs out. the escalating conflict between israel and gaza is moving to another dimension as the fighting continues. both sides are turning to cyber space. but first, when traveling to other cities and countries, the best way to get a real taste of

the place is through local foods. cnn ireport has teamed up with "travel magazine", and here's a sample from becky anderson. >> reporter: i'm becky anderson in london, my home city. and when i want to eat like a local, i come here. peter langen was quite a character. >> he was a famous restauranteur. he called a few of his friends to invest some money and michael caine was one of them, but another one was david hockney, so you have a wonderful star. >> reporter: i also know there's a right royal story to this restaurant. >> oh yes, princess margaret. princess margaret telling peter

langen crawling under the table, pretending he was a dog. >> this is what you get in britain in a wet sunday afternoon. yours -- >> it's the first dish that peter langen put on the menu. >> reporter: why did he want a spinach souffle on the menu in what is this quintessentially english restaurant? >> he hated chefs. he wanted to be really difficult. >> reporter: doesn't get much more basic than this. fish and chips and sausage. how can you make this in 2012? >> it's a classic. if i wanted to make it to my next birthday. i don't, actually. >> reporter: restaurants you can take your friends to.

there are restaurants that you take your boss to. but when it comes to getting a real taste of this my city, landons in london is the only place in town. >> well, eye reporters, here is your chance to make a map of the world. go to our website and send us a photo of your favorite restaurant and dish, why it's special, how you discovered the place, anything else you want us to know. the definitive list of 100 places to eat like a local will be revealed in march. and some i-reporters will be on that list. so stay tuned to see if you're one of them. ♪

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rockets fly between israel and gaza. a war is raging between the two sides. it is a war unfolding on the internet. we track the on line battle. >> it's air surreal battle. this video, pedestrians stroll by, music plays, sirens wail as israel's missiles successfully intercept rockets aimed for gaza. or these snapshots uploaded to instagram by an israeli reservist called into service. >> if you look at the people inside the israeli forces who started putting videos up on youtube or tweeting, they're young people. they're in their early 20s. for them this is normal f you're a supporter of israel anyway and you see a smiling reservist, you

have a human connection with the israeli army. but if you don't like what israel is doing, you may think, wow, how can they do this? isn't this tasteless? people don't really think when they look at the social media. >> reporter: the battle on both sides of the gaza-israel border is unfolding online. in gaza, uploaded pictures of masked fighters and defiance amid destruction. much more than is too graphic to show. verifying what is a then tiauthn line, these are from other conflicts. does the battle online change the war on the ground? >> at the end of the day, conflict is about the use of force or violence for a political objective. so bullets and bombs matter more than tweets. >> reporter: what has changed is how the conflict is documented, in real time, directly by those on the front line.

cnn, london. cnn newsroom starts at the top of the hour. what do you have coming up? >> first of all coming up is randy ok randi kay's birthday. i've known you since you were too young to drink. >> that would mean i'm really old. >> happy birthday, randi. >> thank you. >> i want to talk about the fiscal cliff. we'll be talking to ben stein, warren buffett and robert reich. we'll be talking about the air war in the mideast. we'll have the palestinian legislator, had nan ashwari. they'll have perspectives from both sides of the conflict. and spielberg's "lincoln," it opened up to rave reviews, ra i randi. we're talking to stars and we'll have the best and worst lincoln movies. and holiday shopping and black friday approach, we have the must have apps you need to save

time and most importantly, money. will you be shopping on black friday? >> i shop online. i can't deal with the crowds. i'll tell you the must-have app is the parking april. that is the one to have at the mall. >> see, i just park illegally and run really quick. >> i wait in the car. >> i hire someone to do that. >> i'll do it. i'll help you out this year. >> all right. thank you. i'll see you in a moment. victims of superstorm sandy possibly out of their homes now for more than a year.

many people hit hard by super stormsandy are out of their homes. in new jersey alone, 32,000 people are in shelters, hotels or temporary apartments. as mary snow reports, some may be there for a very long time. >> what normally is a busy road in new jersey now serves as a painful reminder of what was. sandy's storm surge devoured home after home including the house christopher capello lives in with his wife and daughter. where are you living now? >> i'm at a friend's house. you go here. you go there. whoever has room and cousins and stuff like that. >> reporter: in the best case scenario, he says he will be without a permanent home for more than a year. and he's not alone. >> we have families that will be out for a long rebuilding process. homes have been completely destroyed. and our experience is that a small group but some families it will take years.

>> reporter: overseeing the rebuilding is part of a new role for housing secretary shaun donovan. the president tapped him to work with elected state officials to oversee recovery efforts from superstorm sandy. >> the president's made absolutely clear that our job first and foremost is to make sure we cut every piece of red tape, slash every regulation that we need to to make sure help is on the way as quickly as possible. >> reporter: donovan's new role will look at long term plans to rebuild. that includes a massive transportation system with lessons learned from the devastating storm that crippled new york and new jersey. new york's governor alone has requested $30 billion in federal aid. but the more immediate impact on homeowners like christopher capello, rebuilding is daunting enough. how massive is the job ahead? >> the key here is f